


Like that summer, Goodbye.

by djjdkim



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Fairy, Fairy Sehun, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Style, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 22:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11564556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djjdkim/pseuds/djjdkim
Summary: Chanyeol is a boy who lives in a house built on the edge of a forest.In that forest lives Sehun, a boy who has wings that look like they're made from hundreds of minature diamonds sprouting from his back.Chanyeol takes his hand and shows him his wide smile, beautiful singing voice and intriguing human objects, and Sehun is enamoured.





	Like that summer, Goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Untranslatable](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11134320) by [comebaekhome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/comebaekhome/pseuds/comebaekhome). 



> I just hope you won't get bored of the storyline halfway through and stop reading-- please at least read until the end :')
> 
> Warning: Fairytale with no Happily Ever After.

In a place not too far from the world you and I grew up to know, there was a young boy who lived in a relatively large house, with his relatively well-off parents and his relatively average load of homework every day after school. And despite all the large windows on all the floors of their large house on the large area of land they owned, the boy named Park Chanyeol never really cared to observe the small patch of forest located directly behind their house, much preferring to poke around his growing toy trunks.

As Chanyeol grew into a young man, he stayed in his growing room, playing with his growing trunks of toys, ranging from anything between T-rex’s to soccer balls to his Ipod.

So even though Chanyeol’s limbs lengthened and his voice deepened into a masculine growl, he never really seems to notice the trees stretching higher and higher outside his window, much preferring to click around on his computer or laze with earphones poked in his ears, whiling the years away in his large house with their now-large forest.

So when he was shooting goals in their private soccer field behind their house and the ball randomly ricocheted in the direction of their growing forest, he doesn’t give much thought into his pursuit.

A few steps under the thick canopy Chanyeol begins to feel somewhat cold in his thin soccer shirt, but in no bush, behind no tree does he find his ball. So he continues pushing aside the ferns that stuck to his shirt and the branches that hung in his way under the slowly dimming light as he ventures deeper into the trees, the layers of leaves and branches overhead blocking the sunlight from reaching him down on the forest floor. It’s not until he stops to listen to the world of green around him that he actually notices the suspicious giggling amongst the trees.

His steps quieten, and he holds his breath as he parts the leaves hanging infront of his face and gasps. His bright, round eyes follow the glittering path of a glowing, winged boy as he bounced around the understorey with his ball. At the sound, however, the lovely boy with the tinkling laughter and cropped bright orange hair freezes and turns, catching Chanyeol eyeing him with utmost curiosity from behind stray twigs and fronds.

Instantly he drops the soccer ball, and darts behind a tree with only his gleaming bright green eyes visible in equal curiosity as Chanyeol bends to avoid a branch and silently makes his way out of his hiding spot and towards his ball.

Upon picking it up in his hands and looking back over to the uncertain orange-haired boy, however, he holds it out with a small smile. “Here. You can have it.”

At this the young, beautiful faery creeps out from behind the tree, cautiously reaching for his new found plaything, an alluring rosy pink spreading prettily over the pale skin on his high cheekbones. Without a single word, he darts away into the undergrowth with both his wings and heart fluttering, and leaving behind Chanyeol in the middle of the throng of trees.

 

 

 

Sehun’s absolute favourite time of day, ironically, is actually nighttime. Though it is the time where the birds finally quiet down, he especially adores how the moonlight would ripple on the surface of the water of the small crystalline rivers most. He’d find himself falling asleep on the muddy banks, his large iridescent wings wrapped around his body in a protective cocoon that serves to shield him from the dirt and the crisp, chilly night air.

Some nights Sehun would dance across the water with the fireflies if they felt like playing. But even if the fireflies decide to ignore him on some evenings, Sehun still likes to flutter around the water, his toes lightly skimming the surface occasionally, letting his body sway and bend in the air currents. He likes to kick up little showers of water as he stretches his limbs, the rhythmic chirping of the crickets his music.

The next time Sehun saw the human boy again was when the sun had only begun to set, the bright blue of the sky slowly fading into the warmth of soft oranges before melting into blushing pink similar to the pale colour of the human’s hair. Around this time, he’d sit in a fork high up on a tree where he knows that there’s a gap in the leaves for him to watch the sun set and listen to the final comments the birds would make before they settled down for another peaceful night.

In all the years Sehun had watched the forest grow around him, he had never been more excited for a friend, aside from the noisily chattering parrots and the unresponsive fish. Sehun had stayed between the trees all his life, so it’s a first when he wanders a little closer to the edge of the trees with the ball secure in his arms, watching the handsome human approach for the second time.

Sehun daintily steps out from behind the tree trunk where he watched him from, and the human boy jumps a little. Sehun giggles the slightest, covering his mouth with his pale, long fingers. The human boy stops looking like the daylight has been spooked out of him, letting his mouth fall into a comfortable smile as he gazes at the faery chuckling shyly.

He cocks his head to one side, fluffy fairy-floss hair flopping over. “I’m Chanyeol. What’s your name?”

Sehun shifts the soccer ball from one hand to the other, peering up at Chanyeol from under his pale eyelashes. “Sehun.”

“Sehun,” Chanyeol says experimentally, and Sehun finds Chanyeol’s inquisitive gaze captivating. “Do you live here? In this forest?”

Sehun nods the slightest, gracefully following along as Chanyeol stumbles less gracefully further into the trees.

Chanyeol stops to crane his neck up, peering up at the miles of rustling leaves overhead, and Sehun counts the patches of sunlight patterned on his face. Chanyeol twists around to catch Sehun’s eye and grins boyishly, showing off neat teeth and twinkles in his eyes. “I live in the house over there, but I like this. I like this a lot.”

Chanyeol only leaves when he looks down at the shining band around his wrist, pouting whilst telling Sehun that his mother would be worried if he wasn’t home for dinner.

Sehun smiles, walking Chanyeol to the edge of the forest. Chanyeol nearly trips on a gnarled root, twice, and when he flails his arms out and grabs Sehun by the elbow, Sehun is pleased to find that Chanyeol’s palms always seem to be warm though the skin is rough. Sehun watches him walk the distance to the towering house with lights spilling from the windows with a slight humming in the blood running through his arm. When Chanyeol turns and walks backwards, waving a long arm in the direction of the forest, Sehun beams, wings twitching happily.

 

 

“Have you been living here all this time?” Chanyeol throws a glance in Sehun’s direction, hands tucked into his pockets, and watching the wind scatter Sehun’s short hair.

Sehun purses his lips contemplatively. “For as long as I remember,” he says eventually, eyes fixed on the pebbles underfoot.

Chanyeol hums, and Sehun lets himself focus on how the pebbles on the shore make cracking, scraping noises under the tall boy’s boots. Alternatively, even though Sehun’s wings are folded behind his back he still moves as though he’s floating, hopping silently over the rocks with his bare feet.

“It’s beautiful here,” Chanyeol says eventually, halting his steps to look out over the water, one large hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.

Though Chanyeol stands tall and still, admiring the beauty of the river, Sehun continues to move forwards, wings shifting the slightest from the movement. “Do you like the river?” Sehun pipes up quietly, eyes roaming Chanyeol’s extremely handsome profile. “It’s quieter around the bend.” He turns away from Chanyeol, pointing it out with an outstretched arm. “That’s where it widens, and fireflies like to gather.” He shoots Chanyeol a quiet smile. “I think it’s prettier.”

Sehun can see how Chanyeol’s eyes flit across his facial features, and he attempts to force down the reddening of the pointed tips of his ears.

Chanyeol steps towards him, and shyly, Sehun reaches out a hand. Without a moment’s hesitation, Chanyeol takes Sehun’s thin fingers in his own, and Sehun takes a moment to stare in quiet astonishment as his hand is enveloped in Chanyeol’s.

“Show me?” He does that thing where he tilts his head to one side again, and something like the beating of wings hammers at the base of Sehun’s throat. “Take me, one day.”

Sehun’s lips lift in an instant smile, bathing in the feeling of something beautiful thriving between his ribcages. Chanyeol seems to be taken aback at how Sehun’s wings spread out all of a sudden and shimmer in the afternoon sun in his delight, but Sehun’s gripping Chanyeol’s hand with a wide grin to match his breathtaking wings.

 

 

“Sehun, Sehun,” Chanyeol comes charging through the trees, Sehun nearly falling off the tree along with the panicked flocks of birds.

He drops down right infront of Chanyeol, grabbing him by the arm to stop his yelling with a little frown of concern shaping his brows. “What’s wrong?”

“My parents have gone into town,” Chanyeol says breathlessly, eyes wide in a boyish excitement. “I’ll get to spend all night here with you!”

A droplet of adoration spreads out from the crown of Sehun’s head, like how a drop of water sinks into fresh soil. A soft smile curves Sehun’s cheeks, his pale skin looking nearly transparent with his oncoming blush. He takes Chanyeol’s hands in his own, and just like every other time he touches the tall boy, a discreet quiver runs down his spine.

The more frequent Chanyeol’s visits become, the more likely it is for him to come back day after day; the more often Chanyeol’s trips are, the longer the hours they spend together become. The longer they spend together, the more comfortable their conversations become.

They step in and out of the shadows stretched with the setting sun as they make their way down to the shore of the river through the forest, hands firmly clasped together. Sehun has a small, amused smile on as he listens to Chanyeol’s complaints of the day. On days where Chanyeol finds nothing to complain about, he would go on about music, some song he’s trying to learn, speaking with exaggerated hand movements that often hit the trees they are surrounded by, and Chanyeol would wail in pain and sink to the ground dramatically.

This time Sehun stands back and watches, chuckling quietly. Chanyeol stops rolling around in the leaf litter as he too bursts into embarrassed laughter.

When he jumps back to his feet, shaking stray leaves from his hair and making a comment about spiders crawling into his pants, Sehun is reminded once again how he stands just a little under Chanyeol’s height. He attempts to brush off the dirt smeared across the back of Chanyeol’s shirt to no avail. His clothes are forever crisp and pristine, most notably in comparison to the single glorified scrap of cloth Sehun always wears around his hips.

The river bank is chilly after dark, without the rays of the sun. As Chanyeol settles down on the pebbles, Sehun grabs one of his hands, which are always warmer than a sun-soaked rock on a clear day, and presses it softly to his face.

Huffing in amusement, Chanyeol pulls his hand away from Sehun only to envelope the thin faery in his sturdy arms from the side.

“Still cold?” he smiles, tugging Sehun closer so he could rest his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Sehun shakes his head a little, going boneless in Chanyeol’s arms.

He feels the feather-light touch of Chanyeol’s fingertips trailing up his exposed torso and bicep before landing on his shoulder. Sehun pulls away, blinking at him quizzically but making no move to stop him. Chanyeol’s hand is still on his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the same spot.

“Can I,” Chanyeol’s finger inches towards Sehun’s shoulder blades, voice just above a whisper. “touch?”

Sehun’s breath catches in his throat, but then he’s smiling bright and beautiful, turning a little in Chanyeol’s arms.

A moment later, he feels the cautious touch of Chanyeol’s fingertips grazing the delicate fibres of his diamond-like wings, and his entire body shudders. Chanyeol hurriedly pulls his fingers away, but Sehun shoots him a smile over his shoulder, encouraging him to continue touching his wings if he would like, and Chanyeol reaches out again.

Sehun watches him, how his sparkling eyes glitter even more in his fascination, and how Chanyeol’s lips part in a soundless gasp as he lets his hands roam to the tender skin on Sehun’s back where his wings sprout from. But he’s soft, so so soft and gentle with his touches, that Sehun closes his eyes to the feeling of the rough pads of Chanyeol’s fingers running across his bare skin.

“Beautiful,” he whispers.

Sehun’s eyes fly open, twisting his torso around. It’s his turn to be pleasantly shocked, blinking as he feels a blush rise to his cheeks. Chanyeol smiles, bringing a hand up to cup one of Sehun’s quickly reddening cheeks.

“Beautiful,” he repeats. “You’re so beautiful.”

The tips of Sehun’s wings tremble in barely concealed delight, and he fears he may not ever see again from how much his eyes curve into crescents from his wide smiles.

Chanyeol flashes him an equally bright smile before he quickly leans in, before Sehun could process what’s going on. And there is the softest press of Chanyeol’s lips against his own, Sehun dazed from the feeling of warmth spreading throughout his entire body from the incredibly short yet incredibly sweet touch.

He would’ve thought he’d day-dreamed it up when he opens his eyes again if it wasn’t for the bashful giggling erupting from Chanyeol. He had leaned in and pulled away in such quick succession, leaving only a few mere moments for Sehun to savour the taller boy’s taste. He smiles gently at how Chanyeol’s hiding his face behind his large hands. Though short, those few moments would be what continues to thrum Sehun’s heartstrings for the next few days to come.

 

Chanyeol stayed long past usual, more and more often, until sleeping on the forest floor has become a normal occurrence for the two of them. Chanyeol would wake up on many mornings with Sehun’s large wings covering him, shielding him from the chilly mist that lay heavy over the forest at dawn, with Sehun smiling down softly at him.

Neither of them found it in themselves to complain; Sehun’s absolutely thrilled, laughing loudly and freely with Chanyeol when he comes to visit, or spinning carefree through the trees, basking in happiness even when Chanyeol doesn’t come. He has never had another soul to introduce the pure beauty of his large haven to.

He would look over his shoulder as he twirls on the serene surface of the river to see Chanyeol smiling brightly at him from his spot on the river bank, wide eyes following Sehun’s every move; or when Sehun’s glances towards him drag out a little too long, he would find himself staring at the glitter of moonlight on the water reflected in Chanyeol’s eyes.

Sehun would take Chanyeol’s hand and waltz him through the tall trees, calling out to the parrots and describing the birds and dragonflies with all the passion in his little heart; or Sehun could curl up next to an embodiment of warmth as the moon rises high above their heads, waving goodbye to the fireflies. They would then fall asleep slowly, Sehun’s head resting on Chanyeol’s thick bicep and Sehun’s wings gently draped over their bodies, to the rhythmic lapping of the dark river water a metre away.

 

“Are you sure about this—WAIT NO SEHUN DON’T!”

Sehun bursts out laughing again.

Chanyeol clings desperately to Sehun’s shoulders, eyes wide with both fear and concern. “But are you okay with it? You’ll strain yourself, won’t you? If it’s too much pressure on your wings, then don’t do—”

He’s cut off as Sehun suddenly lifts them both off the ground, and Chanyeol’s screaming again. He has his arms wrapped tightly around Sehun’s waist as instructed, while Sehun lifts him up with his arms wrapped around Chanyeol’s torso from under Chanyeol’s armpits.

His wings flutter faster with the additional weight of one very tall, very much muscled boy, and the sunlight striking his diamond-like wings create dancing iridescent patterns on the tree trunks surrounding them. Before Chanyeol could argue that Sehun should put him down so he doesn’t strain himself, he shoots up, manoeuvring around the trees at a greater speed.

Of course, he doesn’t zip around like he would if he was by himself—he wants Chanyeol to fully take in and admire the beauty of the forest from this height. Chanyeol has not said a single word since Sehun lifted off, only whipping his head around to gaze at the green world surrounding them in silent awe, with his jaw slack.

Sehun only heads towards his favourite Silver Maple when he feels the slight soreness between his shoulder blades, gently setting Chanyeol down on a particularly thick branch before hopping next to him.

Chanyeol looks at him, running a finger down his back. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Sehun beams, giggly from the exhilaration of showing off his beautiful home from his perspective. “I’m fine. Did you like it?”

A bright smile blossoms across Chanyeol’s lips in response. “Of course—it’s so calm and… peaceful.” He looks out at the lower canopies below him, and at the branches stretching into the sky all around him. “Even here—I could sit here all day.” He throws Sehun a glance. “I see why you love it here.”

Sehun glows, preening as though the compliment was directed at him.

“It’s so calming,” Chanyeol continues, eyes sparkling with awe and excitement, swinging his legs a little bit and peering down between his feet to the forest floor miles and miles below him. He quickly looks back up again from the dizziness, laughing awkwardly.

Sehun points out the birds, even beckoning them with little waves of his hand, Chanyeol exclaiming in surprise every time they’re approached by one or two brightly coloured songbirds or parrots.

One by one, Sehun teaches him to sing to them, letting him hold out his hand and transferring parrots onto his thick arms. Chanyeol continues to gasp in wonder every time he witnesses Sehun and some particular songbird exchange songs, or when parrots follow every word Sehun says.

By the time the sun is sinking down over the tops of the tallest trees and Sehun is slowly drifting back down to the ground with his dazzling wings fluttering tirelessly, Chanyeol has mastered whistling to the birds, and Sehun has heard Chanyeol’s mesmerising singing voice for the first time. Sehun had unexplainably been unable to take his eyes off the man with the rough, low voice, and the way it reverberates in Chanyeol’s chest leaves every hair on Sehun trembling, and every muscle in Sehun’s heart devoted to Chanyeol and his gentle, masculine singing.

 

Then Sehun is greeted by Chanyeol crashing through the undergrowth again, even after so many visits, but this time with a strange human object in his hands.

“A lighter,” Chanyeol explains. “Watch.”

Sehun watches in part curiosity part fear as Chanyeol gathers branches, breaking them into segments in his hands, and throws them all in a pile before inviting Sehun to sit with him around it as the sky glows orange and red. Then Chanyeol pulls out the lighter from his pockets and after strange clicking noises, Sehun watches as fire erupts on the pile of wood. He leaps to his feet, alarmed, before being tugged down to sit again by Chanyeol’s warm hand on his wrist.

He watches the fire cautiously as Chanyeol explains that it can be used to create a bonfire in the wilderness, which is why he had gathered the wood.

“Don’t worry,” he had soothed with his deep voice, smiling as he smooths Sehun’s bright orange hair. “It’ll be okay.”

Sehun relaxes into Chanyeol’s touch, and they spend the rest of the evening under the setting sun watching the flickers of red lick up into the air and meet the ball of fire in the sky.

Sehun falls asleep with the warmth from the fire surrounding him—yet, when he wakes, Chanyeol’s gone already, leaving behind a pile of charred wood for Sehun to stare at.

 

But Chanyeol is back— Chanyeol always comes back—this time with yet another object slung over his shoulders as he attempts to carefully move to Sehun’s side.

Sehun reaches out a hand to touch the sleek-looking object and marvel at it’s perfectly-cut edges as Chanyeol sets it down and prepares the fire. “What’s that?”

“A guitar,” Chanyeol calls in response, dusting his hands off before pulling the lighter out again.

This time, they settle down in their spots by the fire, Sehun reaching out to warm his hands as the night deepens and the air chills. Chanyeol places the guitar in his lap, and smiles at Sehun as he pulls and strums the strings.

Sehun, jaw slack, invests his entire being into the man sitting before him the moment he opens his mouth to sing along with the strange but charming music that he plucks out of the few strings. Sehun runs his eyes over Chanyeol’s fingers, gripping the instrument, his closed eyes and tongue that occasionally darts out to wet his lips between his singing.

He watches as his thick fingers pick delicately at the strings of the guitar that thrum and vibrate, and think about how Chanyeol could similarly be playing Sehun’s heartstrings.  

 

When Chanyeol returns to the forest again, Sehun’s eyes rake him up and down but doesn’t find another intriguing human object he has brought to show Sehun.

Instead, Chanyeol stops right infront of him with a pretty grin and hope flickering in his eyes.

He reaches out a hand with his palm up, and Sehun places his hand in his immediately without a second thought.

“Come with me,” Chanyeol starts, smile widening as he takes in Sehun’s hand in his own. “You’ve shown me your world. Now, let me show you mine.”

A smile stretches from one side of Sehun’s face to the other. He steps slightly closer, feeling the warmth radiating from Chanyeol’s hands, from Chanyeol’s eyes and from his brilliant smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

 

 

 

 

 

He fantasised love, seeing the beautiful lights that glow every colour of the rainbow Chanyeol described as oh-so-similar to Sehun’s firefly friends, and listening to more of the fascinating human instruments that Chanyeol told him he could play.

Sehun looks confusedly back at Chanyeol before stepping into a small wired box.

He doesn’t turn around fast enough—when he does, he could only silently reach out through the tiny gaps between the bars of the door as he watches Chanyeol clip the door of the box tightly shut from outside. He loops a metal thing through the latch, and when he steps back, Sehun experimentally pushes against it to no avail—the door is fixed in place, and Chanyeol is moving away from him.

Chanyeol spares him a smile, a tugging of the corners of his lips, observing Sehun in his box; his “very own special spot for him and no one else”, as he had described it.

Sehun blabbers incoherently in his confusion, calling out his questions of “why?”, “what are you doing?”, “where are you going?”, as he watches Chanyeol turn away and ascend the stairs that lead up out of what he called the basement of his home near the forest.

The forest, Sehun sighs. The slam of the door at the top of the stairs makes Sehun’s entire body jump when Chanyeol shut it, effectively and completely cutting off all sounds of the outside world from reaching Sehun, trapped in the cage of metal in a completely dark room.

Sehun sinks to the dusty floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. He could envision how close he must be to home—home in the canopy of the trees, with the chattering of the birds, and the sliver of the moon slightly visible through the leaves overhead. He could nearly _feel_ how close he must be—but then he looks up at the darkness and the cold metal pressing around him, and home has never felt further.

Sehun shifts a little when one of his legs grows numb, and hisses quietly in pain once he feels a jagged edge of wire scraping at his precious, delicate wings. Quickly, he folds his wings back, flush against his back, terrified that he could rip his wings from the wire he’s ensnared in.

Sehun buries his face in his arms, breath warm against his skin that has already started cooling from the frozen air inside the basement, with no sunlight.

Perhaps his love would’ve kept his heart beating, but not once did Chanyeol visit him, uselessly locked away in the darkness of the gloomy basement of the large house. And yet still, he remains seated on the cold, metal floor where he foolishly waits for the slightest chance of Chanyeol returning, opening the metal doors and taking him back in his arms.

Every time Sehun opens his eyes with his head leaning against the metal bars, he has no idea if he just blinked or slept, night or day, whether it has been another hour, another day or another week.

Though he feels empty enough inside, with a stomach so light he may as well float up to the ceiling of his metal compartment, the bruises that arise on his heart that sends pain pulsating through his body with every pump weigh him down every day that Sehun spends in the dark, living off his memories of what Chanyeol’s face looks like.

When Sehun wakes, it’s to light flooding the dirty floors that he’s been sleeping on, and heavy thuds down the stairs, nearly louder than the drumming of his pulse in his ears. He knows those footsteps. They were etched in his conscience the day Chanyeol walked out of the basement.

He knows that silhouette too—the long legs, the pastel hair fluffed up and the ears that stick out. Sehun watches, heart in his throat, as he approaches.

Desperate to know that he hasn’t started hallucinating, gone insane from the endless days in the basement, Sehun tries to push his arm out through the bars, scraping his pale skin against the wire. Immediately, Chanyeol frowns, moving forward to poke Sehun’s limbs back into the skeleton of metal and Sehun’s blood roars in delight at the brief contact of Chanyeol’s forever warm fingers on his cold skin.

“We’re going to my workplace today.”

And Sehun foolishly hopes with renewed hearts in his eyes that perhaps he does love him, that Chanyeol is still the man who he would soothe by their river in their forest after a long day at work—he whole-heartedly, _foolishly_ , believes those memories are still as precious to Chanyeol as they are to him—he has come back for him after all, after all this time, hasn’t he?

 

 

 

 

Sehun’s dull green eyes drown in the tears warping his line of sight, the scene before him blurring, yet his long, pointed ears still pick up Chanyeol’s enchanting, deep voice jeering to the huge masses of people.

Though Sehun can’t see the gathering crowd yet, Chanyeol’s loud voice boasting his catch, “the prettiest thing you’ll ever see with wings of a butterfly stitched onto his back in ways no less than magic”, gives Sehun an idea of the amount of people shouting in anticipation and impatience.

And when Chanyeol lifts the thick cloth over Sehun’s metal box, the yelling of the crowd only escalates, and Chanyeol only raises his voice, asking for thousands, which rise quickly into millions for someone to take Sehun home.

Sehun shies away, head hanging low and not daring to look at the spectators, with his arms wrapped tightly around his body, hugging his bony ribs as a poor shield against Chanyeol’s cold words. He shivers a little, still only wearing his one and only scrap of cloth, and the people only bid higher upon seeing how light bounces off and refracts from Sehun’s crystalline wings with his shuddering movement.

Bills are flying at his feet, men and women, young and old lunging for a better look— And he has had enough—enough of the humans ogling him like their next meal; enough of the wires that ensnare him, that scratch at his wings more often than not; and he’s had enough of Chanyeol’s pretty face, petty lies and useless promises.

Without another word, Sehun casts Chanyeol one last look and decides against waiting and hoping for him any longer. He shrinks to the size of a grain of salt in the blink of an eye and whizzes out right between the mesh of wires that had scratched his fingers when he reached for Chanyeol earlier. He wants to go home. Not to the large, dark basement in Chanyeol’s large, lonely home. He leaves him behind, seeking his way back to the old house by the forest through the lunacy of the city.

Even so, when Sehun finally spies the same brick roof and the same tall chimney in the near distance, he hears no birds welcoming him home over the endless roaring of the beasts on the road and smells none of the pines he loved napping beneath, and doesn’t quite make out anything beyond the large house as he draws closer in the thick air.

Where the tall clumps of trees that he had made into his home once stood, the only memory of the towering greens are the stumps left over, dotted higgledy-piggledy across the flat ground, waiting to be uprooted by even larger machines that crouch nearby, endlessly spewing disgusting inky smoke into the air.

He could still see the remnants of where the rivers should be, the murky, black waters drastically unrecognisable. Sehun’s wings flutter despite his exhaustion, a hand cupping his mouth as he thinks of the rowdy parrots he complained so often about, and the fish that he thought were too boring to play with.

Sehun silently flutters over, sitting down on one of the small stumps and wondering which of them was his favourite Silver Maple tree. He lets his finger trace the circular markings within the trunk, and only until he’s counted all the rings does he rise into the air again. With one last look at the mess of the land, Sehun makes his slow way to a single, short tree he spies in the distance.

The wind is buffeting against him, slowing his progress down further but even upon reaching the tree and slumping into a fork in the branch, he doesn’t relax against the bark. His wings droop, and he twists around to finger gingerly at the small rips from the wires, breathing a small sigh of relief that they didn’t pull even further with his long flying in the wind.

He glances around, previously uninterested in the tree he would be spending his days in. Directly below him lies a smooth, grey road, and Sehun jumps a little when a roaring thing speeds right under him. He digs his fingers into the bark, willing away the beeps and honks from all directions—at least here, he realises as he swoops up to the tops of the tree, he can watch as the sun sets behind large, smooth buildings. And though the dots of light from the human houses shine brighter than the stars, at least here he can look up into the night sky.

At least here he isn’t waiting on anyone to come and restore his faith in them. Sehun rapidly shakes his head.

He doesn’t think of the forest, and most definitely doesn’t think of Chanyeol, who he was sold to just with some pretty smiles and elegant singing. He doesn’t think of the forest out of pure guilt for leaving it in the hands of corporate greed, but Chanyeol is a mistake that Sehun is ashamed of making.

Sehun sighs low in his throat, trying to spot any stars that might be appearing a little early in the sky in this dusk.

Chanyeol is a mistake that cost Sehun everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from lyrics of 'Goodbye Summer' by f(x) and D.O.
> 
> Scream at me on social media:  
> IG: @djjdkim  
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> If you want writing prompts for exo: @xoxoprompts  
> Twitter (for writing updates): @djjdkim


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